As is well known in the art the price and value attached to a portioned meat product will vary considerably depending on the cut of the meat and the quality of that meat. Often times the quality of meat is judged according to, among other things, the fat content or marbling in the meat. The degree of marbling in any piece of meat may vary substantially even in meat from the same animal. For instance, it is well known in the art that a rib eye is a long rectangular cut taken from a front shoulder of an animal. The rib eye is then sliced into individual portions which are sold to the consumer. The fat content in the rib eye varies considerably from one end of the cut to the other. For instance, a large portion of fat found in rib eye steaks, known as the star fat or kernel fat occupies a substantial portion of the meat toward the chuck end of the animal. As you move away from the chuck end along the rib eye, the meat becomes more valuable as the size of the kernel fat decreases. A method of selectively removing undesirable fat and bonding the meat back together in a seamless way would enhance the quality and value of the meat.
A porterhouse cut of beef typically contains a T-bone with meat on either side of the long bone portion. On one side is the strip and on the other is the tenderloin. The porterhouse, like the rib eye, extends along the animal's rib from neck toward the rear portion of the animal. The tenderloin portion, which is the most desirable and hence most valuable, is thinnest closer to the head of the animal and gets thicker as you move toward the rear. A method of bonding tenderloin onto porterhouse portions with little or no tenderloin section would greatly enhance the quality of value of the porterhouse cut.
It is also well known in the art that during the cutting of meat from the animal's bone there are several small portions of scrap meat which are usually discarded. A method of aggregating those various scrap pieces of meat in a solid portion would greatly enhance the value currently lost as the scrap is discarded. There have been prior attempts in the prior art to solve these problems. U.S. Pat. No. 4.539,210 ("O'Connell, et al.") describes a process for making a structured meat product. In the O.degree. Connell process, the meat product is comprised of chunks of comminuted meat. The comminuted meat chunks are then multiply severed and massaged under reduced pressure to produce a protein exudate on the chunks. The protein exudate comprised of intercellular protein, acts as a binding mechanism to adhere the chunks of meat together. A disadvantage of this process is that adhering, comminuted or chunk meat produces a different texture or organoleptic experience than does solid meat. For this reason, the process described in O'Connell does not produce a satisfactory whole meat product. Exemplary including U.S. Pat. No. 3,563,764 to Posegate and U.S. Pat. No. 3,076,713 to Mass teach the bonding of individual meat pieces through a combination of comminuted meat chunks and a metallic salt. The metallic salt extracts the intercellular protein and forms a bonding material which is creamy or sticky in appearance. Again, both of these processes produce a meat product which is texturally different than whole meat, producing a less desirable organoleptic experience and selling for comparably lower prices. Others in the art may use sodium tripolyphosphate as a binder for chunked or macerated meat. With such a binder the sodium triphyphosphate tends to make the meat rubbery as it cooks and alters the textural feel in the mouth resulting in a different and often unacceptable organoleptic experience.
It is further known in the art that there are several compounds which may be used which will bond meat portions together without changing the textural or flavor characteristics of the meat. One such chemical is transglutaminase sold under the trademark Activa TG.RTM. and manufactured by Amano Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd., Nagoya, Japan. The second chemical is Fibrinogen concentrate from animal plasma, sold under the trademark Fibrimex.RTM. manufactured by Harminex-Ligos B.V. of the Netherlands. It has been found that these two bonding agents are optimally preferred for bonding meat products. A known problem encountered in using the transglutaminase is that the bond tends to break down if tenderizing compounds are added to the meat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,424 to Mendenhall teaches the bonding of meat portions to bone containing a thin layer of meat through the use of a salt and phosphate mixture. However, the salt/phosphate mixture used significantly alters the textural appearance and taste of the meat.
What is needed is a process of bonding meat whereby less valuable cuts of meat may be value enhanced by bonding different cuts of meat to the existing whole meat portion without altering the organoleptic feel and without altering the effectiveness of bonding after using tenderizing compounds.